1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an outer mirror such as a door mirror provided to a door panel of a vehicle. The invention particularly relates to an outer mirror provided with a function of outputting a sound to the outside of a cabin of the vehicle or inputting a sound on the outside of the cabin of the vehicle. Moreover, the invention relates to an interphone for a vehicle for a smooth conversation between persons in and outside the cabin of the vehicle.
2. Description of the Related Art
Normally, when a conversation takes place between a vehicle passenger and a person on an outside of a cabin of a vehicle, basically, a door of the vehicle is opened or a window is opened.
However, a person who speaks to the vehicle passenger from outside the cabin of the vehicle may not necessarily be a person whom the passenger knows, for example. Moreover, considering the possibility that a person on the outside the cabin of the vehicle may speak to the passenger while intending to do harm or bearing ill will, the passenger preferably opens the window or the door after personally confirming that the person is not intending to do the passenger harm.
On the other hand, if the door panel and the window are kept closed, sound on the outside of the cabin of the vehicle is hard to hear and a smooth conversation is impossible.
As an example of means for solving the above problems, provision of a system similar to a so-called interphone used for a house or the like to a vehicle can be considered. Such an interphone system is applied to a vehicle such as a bus in recent years and achieves a smooth conversation between a person waiting to get on in a vicinity of a door for getting on and off of the bus and a driver in a driver's sheet by mounting a microphone and a loudspeaker to a vehicle body at a central portion in a longitudinal direction of the vehicle or in the vicinity of the door for getting on and off on a rear end side.
However, it is extremely difficult to mount the loudspeaker and the microphone of the above interphone system to a vehicle body of a vehicle such as a sedan and a coupe which is much smaller than a bus vehicle in consideration of a space for mounting.
Therefore, mounting of the loudspeaker and the microphone to an inner peripheral portion of a visor of a door mirror (outer mirror) provided to a door panel of a vehicle can be considered An example is seen in Japanese Patent Application Laid-open (JP-A) No. 4-358936.
However, the visor of the door mirror vibrates when it directly receives window during traveling of the vehicle and the vibration is transferred to the loudspeaker and the microphone. Moreover, there are good possibilities that the visor hits another vehicle or a structure other than the vehicle (e.g., a building, and a utility pole) during traveling and that a pedestrian or the like hits the visor even during a stop of the vehicle. A shock applied to the visor by such a hit at another structure or by a person is transferred to the loudspeaker and the microphone.
Such direct and easy transfer of the vibration and shock to the microphone and loudspeaker may cause a break in wiring (lead wire) to the loudspeaker and the microphone in some cases. As a result, the loudspeaker and the microphone may not be able to perform their essential functions.